U.S Release: 1/23/2009
Directed by Howard McCain
Written By Howard McCain & Dirk Blackman
Distributed by The Weinstein Company
Cast:
Jim Caveziel - Kainan
John Hurt - Rothgar
Sophia Myles - Freya
Jack Huston - Wulfric
Ron Perlman - Gunnar
The Skinny:
Kainan (Caveziel) is the lone survivor of a space ship that crashes into a lake in Norway during the age of Vikings. Well, the only human survivor of his ship, as he stumbles upon a nearby whaling village that has been ravaged and reduced to near cinders. No human bodies remain, but Kainan knows what happened to the village as the carnage and blood is nothing he hasn't seen before. Soon captured by a neighboring Viking clan, he must convince his captors of the existence of a "Moorwen" a creature that is now roaming their territory and hunting what ever it wants. To make matters worse, the Moorwen is stronger than all iron weapons the Vikings wield.
Kainan also has to play it cool as he definitely does not belong in this time period nor on the planet Earth.
A power struggle between the reigning Viking King Rothgar (Hurt) and his nephew Wulfric (Huston), the Viking King of the ravaged village (Perlman) who mistakenly thinks Rothgar attacked his village, and Freya (Myles), Rothgar's warrior daughter whom he wishes to wed to Wulfric, further complicate the situation.
On the surface:
This film definitely has a small yet unique audience. Those familiar with classic literature will definitely see this as a Sci-fi take on Beowulf. Casual movie goers in general will be bored and confused due to its far out premise, dark overtones, and seemingly cookie-cutter story seen across multiple film genres.
Casual Sci-Fi fans may be divided on this film since its hard classify what sub-genre this film fits into. Hardcore sci-fi fans may be turned off completely because the story doesn't go into detail about who Kainan is, (is he really a human? is he from the future?). Sci-fi fans of the more far out genres and content, however, may like this movie most of all because, well it doesn't fit one category and seems to make its own, even if its the lone example of that category.
Production wise:
Howard McCain, the director, had written the script for this film in 1992, and would meet screenwriter Dirk Blackman sometime in 1998-99, who re-wrote the script. The duo had trouble securing financing for the film, casting decent actors for a film thought to be "so weird", and designing the Moorwen into an original design that didn't look like a Xenomorph or Predator rip off.
Financing would eventually be secured through multiple production companies, and Caveziel, Hurt, Perlman and the rest would be cast after a triathlon of auditions and test readings.
The film caught a lucky break though, a veteran production designer and creature creationist Patrick Tatopoulos agreed to design the Moorwen for free. With his credits being the Lycans of the Underworld films, the 1998 Godzilla, and the aliens of Independence Day, his end product did not disappoint.
Sadly, marketing was not big for this film causing it to be placed on hold while a distributor was found (eventually The Weinstein company agreed to distribute the film) and due to its far out nature, pitching the film to a mass audience seemed impossible. The film only had a very limited release and was a box office failure.
Why I like this film:
I can't remember how I found out about this film, but I do remember it piquing my interest and checking online frequently to see when it would be released.
I really liked the design of the Moorwen, it was not a "slightly" different version of the Alien or the Predator, and his bio-luminescent qualities set him apart from other Sci-fi creatures in my opinion.
Using Viking era Norway was another smart move to set him apart, with the extreme limitations of the period (compared to the contemporary or futuristic settings common to Sci-Fi films featuring alien creatures) gave him the latitude to appear almost invincible to his prey.
Jim Caveziel gave a top notch performance, you can tell he believed in his character and wasn't trying to act without motivation. His stoic and stern mannerism conveyed that he know more than he let on in the beginning of the film, and when his past is revealed to the audience, his attitude and mood is justified.
John Hurt, a long time veteran of film, was perfect for the role of Rothgar. His age and ability to speak with wisdom didn't give the audience a chance to assume he was a great Viking leader, because you saw and heard his leadership qualities on the screen in front of you.
John Huston, a relative unknown at the time, was good as the hot headed, almost stereotypical Viking of his time. His unknown status allowed him to play a characterization necessary for the role instead a performance that would've been out of place for a period/Sci-fi film.
Sophia Myles, in my opinion, is one of the many underrated actress that pass through Hollywood and film without getting as much recognition as they deserve. Her performance over the course of the film made me believe she endured psychical, emotional, and personal changes. So though by the end of the film, her pretty face is scarred and bloody, she still looked more beautiful to the audience because we see what she went through.
Ron Perlman as Gunnar was short, which is disappointing. The deleted scenes of the dvd show he did have more screen time, though I still like his scene where he's threatening Rothgar from in front of the village gates. His delivery was believable as a Viking who lost his family and was consumed with revenge.
Towards the end of the film, "space metal" is salvaged from Kainen's submerged ship to make the swords, axes, and spear heads stronger and actually effective against the Moorwen. This element is a bit on the corny side, but the film didn't make excuses for it, and I totally loved it.
The CGI is seemless, the music score appropriate for the content and progression of the story, and film is good to watch when you feel the need to see something outside a specific genre every once in a while.
The film is rated R, because there is some dismembered body parts, and scary images. Add in one or two obvious production errors (most likely because of the touchy production schedule and post production being somewhat rushed and unorganized) there isn't much to distract from the quality of this movie.
I recommend streaming it (where available) when you have the time. If anything you'll have movie experience to talk about, good or bad, or both.
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